Aeration

Removal of soil cores from a turf with hollow tines or spoons. This can help to alleviate soil compaction.

Alternate

Leaves appear singly at each node as in greenbriar or prostrate knotweed.

Annual

A plant starting from seed and completing its life cycle in the same growing season.

Arsonate Herbicide (Herbicide, Arsonate)

This class of herbicides poses very little concern as far as toxicity to humans. Their mode of action is not well understood. The arsonates are also very water soluble. Arsonates include DSMA, MSMA (Bueno 6, MSMA Turf), and CMA.

Auricle

A claw-like appendage projecting from the collar of the leaf.

Basal

Arising from the base of the stem.

Biennial

A plant starting from seed and requiring two years to complete its life cycle.

Blade

The flat portion of the grass leaf above the sheath.

Blend, Seed

A combination of two or more cultivars of the same species, e.g., Rebel and Falcon tall fescue.

Blighting of Entire Leaves

Blisters

Raised areas of diseased leaf tissue that change color and then rupture to release powdery masses of fungal spores.

Broadcast

Uniform application to an entire area.

Broadleaf

Plants with flattened leaves; dicots, i.e., plants that possess two seedling leaves. Broadleaf plant characteristics are widely varied. Leaves are generally wide (wider than they are long), and have net-like veins. They can have either round or square stems, and growth can be upright, prostrate or vining. Broadleaf plants can have a taproot, a bulbous root, or fibrous roots. They generally have showy flowers. Three key indicators help categorize a plant almost definitively as a broadleaf, rather than a grass, rush, or sedge: a square stem, a non-linear leaf shape, or a non-fibrous root system.

Bud Leaf

First emerged leaf of a grass plant.

Bunch Type Growth Habit

Plant development in the absence of rhizome and stolon production; a non-spreading grass.

Bunchgrass

A non-spreading grass which lacks rhizomes and stolons.

Capsule

A dry type of fruit that contains seed.

Carrier

An inert material added to an active ingredient to prepare a formulation of a pesticide.

Certified Seed (Seed, Certified)

A seed lot inspected to meet minimum standards and to ensure trueness to type for a given cultivar.

Circles

Localized areas of disease damage in turf that are perfectly circular and greater than 4 inches in diameter.

Collar

A narrow band marking the place where the blade and sheath of a grass leaf join: divided--collar divided by the midrib; continuous--collar not divided by the midrib